Get our new Madison music compilation, “To Grow A Garden”

Featuring unreleased tracks from some great Madison artists.

We at Tone Madison are proud to announce To Grow A Garden, a compilation of 40+ tracks of music from artists with ties to Madison, much of it never before released.

All proceeds from the compilation on Bandcamp will support Tone Madison’s year-end fundraising campaign—a crucial effort to ensure a strong future for our coverage of culture and politics in Madison. Readers can support the campaign by purchasing the compilation or donating directly. Through December 31, reader donations will be tripled thanks to the national NewsMatch campaign.

To Grow A Garden features contributions from Julian Lynch, knowsthetime, Heavy Looks, Terran, and Able Baker, among artists representing a multitude of genres and many different pockets of the music that keeps Madison interesting (plus a couple surprises from musicians elsewhere in Wisconsin).

The comp arrives just in time for Bandcamp Friday, when Bandcamp waives its cut of sales on the platform. That helps to ensure the maximum return for independent musicians, labels, and in this case a publication that has proudly and persistently covered Madison’s music community with unparalleled depth. To Grow A Garden will be priced at $15 for Bandcamp Friday (December 2) and $20 thereafter.

How did we pick the artists for this compilation? Well, we’ve been listening for a long time and paying close attention. All the music here comes from artists we’ve covered in some form or other. At a time when depleted local news outlets around the country devote only scant resources to covering arts and music, Tone Madison has stubbornly kept its focus on the unusual and underappreciated work people are creating right here, right under our noses. In-depth interviews with Madison-based musicians, show previews, and often the only year-end coverage of local releases—all this takes diligent work, and we simply cannot do it without the support of our readers.

To Grow A Garden, curated by me, Music Editor Steven Spoerl, is a testament to the rich and at times baffling variety of Madison music. We hope you enjoy this collection as much as we do, and thank you for supporting independent media when it needs you most.